Sing Along

Paul Thomas Anderson’s Newest Project Is a Mesmerizing Music Video

Most music videos—the non–Taylor Swift ones, anyway—are low-budget affairs these days, since the viral hooks that guarantee millions of YouTube plays are hard to come by. But this new low-fi video from Joanna Newsom, the indie artist who today announced the arrival of her first album since 2010, comes with a hook behind the scenes: it was directed by Paul Thomas Anderson. (Extra-knowledge time: the song’s title, ”Sapokanikan,” appears to come from one of the native villages on the island of Manhattan before the arrival of Europeans.)

The connection between Anderson and Newsom goes far beyond the time they spent wandering New York’s wintry streets for this video—the two have been friends for years, and Newsom was the wispy voiced narrator of last year’s Inherent Vice. This video may pretty much just be one friend doing a favor for another, but there’s a lush beauty to it all the same: the blurry lights and orange glow of the street matching the ethereal, unmistakable beauty of Newsom’s voice. It might be a while before we get a new Anderson film—his current project, so far as any of us know, is writing and possibly directing __Robert Downey Jr.’s __ Pinocchio movie. So cling to this lovely music video, and let it tide you over. For bonus points, check out his much more elaborate video for Fiona Apple’s “Paper Bag”—a throwback to the big-budget music-video days of yore.